New York City - Transit News

[Busy Bee]

Ok boomer

[mrnyc]

mta debt



MTA debt will take one-fifth of revenue by 2023, state comptroller warns


State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli believes the MTA is in rough shape financially considering a fifth of its revenue will be put toward debt repayment from now through 2023.

But the transit agency is not sweating the situation countering that the situation has improved in recent years and that the amount they owe is not only manageable, but their ratings are also in good shape.

“The MTA’s ambitious capital program promises significant improvements, but there are still too many unanswered questions,” DiNapoli said. “Heavy reliance on borrowing will also place additional pressure on the operating budget, which already faces risks. Unless the MTA can change the way it does business and reduce costs, for example, riders could be saddled with even higher fares and tolls than already planned.”


more:
https://www.amny.com/transit/mta-deb...troller-warns/

[mrnyc]

current penn-struction

[mrnyc]

welp it looks like as of today transit is staying open for business.

i wonder if they go on a weekend schedule for awhile though?

we'll see.


Coronavirus prompts regional Tri-state coalition response to pandemic


In a Monday news conference governors Andrew Cuomo, Phil Murphy and Ned Lamont said business such as bars, gyms and theaters would now face tight restrictions to prevent further spread of COVID-19 in each state as a coordinated, uniformed approach to containment.

But Cuomo was equally resolute that the transit systems in New York would remain available to the public.


https://www.amny.com/coronavirus/cor...e-to-pandemic/

[thoughtcriminal]

Originally Posted by mrnyc

welp it looks like as of today transit is staying open for business.

i wonder if they go on a weekend schedule for awhile though?

we'll see.


Coronavirus prompts regional Tri-state coalition response to pandemic


In a Monday news conference governors Andrew Cuomo, Phil Murphy and Ned Lamont said business such as bars, gyms and theaters would now face tight restrictions to prevent further spread of COVID-19 in each state as a coordinated, uniformed approach to containment.

But Cuomo was equally resolute that the transit systems in New York would remain available to the public.


https://www.amny.com/coronavirus/cor...e-to-pandemic/

FWIW, Philly regional rail is going on a Saturday schedule as of tomorrow, although subways are on regular schedule, even though the city is on complete shutdown.

[mrnyc]

i would guess everything will go to a weekend type schedule at some point for awhile, but who knows?

[mrnyc]

a bit of good news we could use.

75% of mnrr now has the ptc safety system in place:


https://www.amny.com/transit/tech-to...orth-railroad/

[mrnyc]

well, here's the hard news to date



Cash 'Calamity' Looms for Mass Transit

Mass transit — the lifeblood of New York City and across the region -— has remained running normally, albeit with many fewer people.

MTA Chairman Pat Foye said that a funding "calamity" looms because of the plunge in ridership; he said the agency has lost hundreds of millions in unexpected expenses and that a federal bailout is "urgently" needed.

The MTA needs around $4 billion. Asked Wednesday what would happen if a bailout didn't come, Foye told 1010 WINS he would not even contemplate it.

New York City subways are down 60 percent, with buses down nearly 50 percent. Commuter railroads have been hit even harder: LIRR is down 67 percent, while Metro-North is down a staggering 90 percent, a number almost hard to believe for one of the busiest rail systems in America.

NJ Transit, which also runs one of the nation's busiest commuter networks, has asked Congress for a $1.25 billion bailout just to survive, according to Politico. CEO Kevin Corbett said ridership has plunged 88 percent in 10 days, just since March 9, and that fare revenue has fallen accordingly, Politico reported.



more:
https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/coro...-dead/2333955/

[mrnyc]

rear door boarding on most busses:


https://www.amny.com/transit/mta-imp...al-distancing/

[mrnyc]

a pilot for street closures to start:


Mayor Bill de Blasio has picked one street to be converted to pedestrian-only corridors in Manhattan, Queens, Brooklyn and the Bronx, for a pilot running from Friday, March 27, to Monday, March 30.

Each of the following streets will be closed to cars from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. for the four-day test.

The closures in total make up roughly 1.6 miles of the city’s 6,000 miles of roads:

Manhattan: Park Avenue, between 28th Street and 34th Street
Brooklyn: Bushwick Avenue, between Johnson Avenue and Flushing Avenue
Queens: 34th Avenue, from 73rd Street to 80th Street
The Bronx: Grand Concourse, between East Burnside Avenue and 184th Street


more:
https://nypost.com/2020/03/26/nyc-ou...irus-shutdown/

[jtown,man]

Question, here in Chicago we are obviously also dealing with transit numbers going down 70-80%. When they calculate the loss in revenue do they just count everyone who stops riding as loss revenue?

I ask because I have a monthly pass, so I already paid for the month and I am sure a decent amount of other people are in the same boat. Do we get counted as "loss revenue" even though we already paid?

[SIGSEGV]

Originally Posted by jtown,man

Question, here in Chicago we are obviously also dealing with transit numbers going down 70-80%. When they calculate the loss in revenue do they just count everyone who stops riding as loss revenue?

I ask because I have a monthly pass, so I already paid for the month and I am sure a decent amount of other people are in the same boat. Do we get counted as "loss revenue" even though we already paid?

Yeah I was wondering the same. I'm keeping my monthly pass (it's a pretax benefit and must be canceled ahead of time anyway so hard to predict), so I assume that my lack of riding only helps farebox recovery...

[mrnyc]

even though i work all over over city, i don't take too many trips per day, so i eventually decided a monthly pass wasn't worth it for me. for past year or so i just top up in dollar amounts every week with the account card they give us. so my twice weekly pretax money is just building up in an account.

as for how they count the revenue and lost revenue, i dk for sure. i assume they keep some kind of count of riders and farebox money coming in daily and judge off that. that would include monthly pass holders automatic charges. i know thats about 40% of the budget for mta. unfortunately, you also have to consider tolls and taxes, which are are other major sources of money and are taking a swan dive as well. so probably some estimating losses in what we are hearing? just a guess tho.

[mrnyc]

longer waits ...


MTA reduces weekday train, bus service 30% after ridership takes plunge in pandemic


more:
https://www.amny.com/transit/mta-red...e-in-pandemic/

[mrnyc]

and of course, with delayed trains come crowded trains. ugh.


https://nypost.com/2020/03/29/video-...irus-pandemic/

[mrnyc]

Op-Ed: Give gratitude to transit workers by staying off of public transportation

amNewYork
4 hours ago

BY PAT FOYE


https://www.amny.com/oped/op-ed-give...ransportation/

[urbanflight]

Originally Posted by mrnyc

a pilot for street closures to start:


Mayor Bill de Blasio has picked one street to be converted to pedestrian-only corridors in Manhattan, Queens, Brooklyn and the Bronx, for a pilot running from Friday, March 27, to Monday, March 30.

Each of the following streets will be closed to cars from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. for the four-day test.

The closures in total make up roughly 1.6 miles of the city’s 6,000 miles of roads:

Manhattan: Park Avenue, between 28th Street and 34th Street
Brooklyn: Bushwick Avenue, between Johnson Avenue and Flushing Avenue
Queens: 34th Avenue, from 73rd Street to 80th Street
The Bronx: Grand Concourse, between East Burnside Avenue and 184th Street


more:
https://nypost.com/2020/03/26/nyc-ou...irus-shutdown/

They really should permanently pedestrianizate Time Square and the area around the Rockefeller Center.

[chris08876]

^^^

They need to do that in general during November and December. The area around Rockefeller Center and portions of TS become inhospitable. They've done a few closing last year around the tree, but even with that, still abysmal. On the Weekends, I think Avenue of the America's should be solely pedestrianized during the holidays. I mean they could close off TS to traffic in theory, but the congestion issue lies going cross town. They need to revamp the traffic lighting system when turning on right or even turn on left, and make pedestrians wait. Just going to cause massive gridlock if traffic flow is directed to go cross-town for certain sections of Manhattan.

Might make for a few mini Shibuya Crossing style intersections, but if they could time the pedestrian-traffic interface and optimize flow, could possibly be accomplished without gridlocking traffic.

On a side note, cross town traffic due to narrower roads is an nightmare due to double parked delivery trucks, so something also to factor. They've already chopped away big portions of TS compared to 10 years ago, but any further would seriously warrant a serious proposal on how to accommodate vehicles.

[mrnyc]

^ they canceled the street closure experiment. it was taking too many cops to enforce and no one was using it.


https://commercialobserver.com/2020/...istancing-nyc/

[mrnyc]

time for a bit of distracting ny transit humor?

mark twain is the guy for that:



SATURDAY, Nov. 8.

To THE EDITOR OF THE SUN - Sir: Doubtless you city people do not mind having your feelings hurt and your self-love blistered for your horse car and elevated road service train you to patience and humble-mindedness, but with us hayseed folk from the back settlements the case is different. We are so delicate, so sensitive -- well, you would never be able to imagine what it is like. An unkind speech shrivels us all up and often makes us cry. Now, the thing which happened today a New Yorker would not mind in the least; but I give you my word it almost made me want to go away and be at rest in the cold grave.

I stepped aboard a red Sixth avenue horse car -- No. 106 -- at Sixth avenue and Forty-second street at 11:45 this morning, bound down town. Of course there was no seat -- there never is: New Yorkers do not require a seat, but only permission to stand up and look meek, and be thankful for such little rags of privilege as the good horse-car company may choose to allow them. I stood in the door, behind three ladies.

After a moment, the conductor, desiring to pass through and see the passengers, took me by the lappel and said to me with that winning courtesy and politeness which New Yorkers are so accustomed to: "Jesus Christ! what you want to load up the door for? Git back here out of the way!" Those ladies shrank together under the shock, just the same as I did; so I judged they were country people.

This conductor was a person about 30 years old, I should say, five feet nine, with blue eyes, a small, dim, unsuccessful moustache, and the general expression of a chicken thief -- you may probably have seen him.

I urged him to modify his language, I being from the country and sensitive. He looked upon me with cold and heartless scorn, thus hurting me still more. I said I would report him, and asked him for his number. He said, in a tone which wounded me more than I can tell, "I'll give you a chew of tobacco."

Why, dear sir, if conductors were to talk to us like that out in the country we could never, never bear to ride with them, we are so sensitive. I went up to Sixth avenue and Forty-third street to report him, but there was nobody in the superintendent's office who seemed to want to converse with me. A man with "conductor" on his cap said it wouldn't be any use to try to see the President at that time of day, and intimated by his manner, not his words, that people with complaints were not popular there, any way.

So I have been obliged to come to you, you see.

What I wanted to say to the President of the road was this -- and through him say it to the President of the elevated roads -- that the conductors ought to be instructed never to swear at country people except when there are no city ones to swear at, and not even then except for practice. Because the country people are sensitive. Conductors need not make any mistakes; they can easily tell us from the city people.

Could you use your influence to get this small and harmless distinction made in our favor?


MARK TWAIN

- from the New York Sun, November 9, 1890. Titled "An Appeal Against Injudicious Swearing" or "New York Civility" in some reprintings.